Alyssa Ukani: The most exciting part about the IlluminaTED 2022 leadership team

Hi! My name is Alyssa Ukani. I'm a Grade 12 student at Mulgrave School and a member of the Communications team for the IlluminaTED 2022 conference!

Even through our screens, the infectious energy that spread across the team during the IlluminaTED 2021 conference is something that I will never forget.

I was inspired to join the team last year (as well as the Encounters TEDEd Club) because of my experience the year before at the IlluminaTED 2020 conference. I was intrigued by the stories in the talks that I heard and the ways that they seemed to so effortlessly connect to the broader themes of our world and how we might approach our lives.

To say simply that I learned a lot would be a colossal understatement. I was able to develop my skills in communications, learning how to more effectively and concisely convey ideas through a multitude of mediums, while also honing my leadership skills by managing a team of my own, ensuring that we stayed on track and produced engaging content to advertise the conference. This presented challenges in itself that I had to learn to resolve— from managing a timeline to ensuring everything was completed on time to addressing conflicts that arose within the team throughout the process.

To me, the IlluminaTED conference is unique in that it is truly student-led. This opportunity provides students with much more freedom to be creative and take charge. From our first meeting of the IlluminaTED 2022 team, I knew that I had made the right choice in returning and basked in the energy and enthusiasm that this year’s team has to create something amazing.

In class, we often talk about how every TED talk, and the Illuminated conference by extension, is a gift that we give to our audience. This attitude, I believe, is something that has guided our team and has made all of us even more excited about working together to put together the conference. Like any project of this scale, there is a lot of work involved (and challenges that always arise along the way), but the level of passion and enthusiasm on the IlluminaTED team creates a community where we can cheer each other on and support one another throughout the process.

Through this experience I have learned, more viscerally than anywhere else, that we all have a part to play in shaping the future. I’m thrilled to be part of the IlluminaTED conference team once again.